What can you do when the world is pushing you over the edge? More than you think.

For some of us, it's the automated voice that answers the phone when we'd rather talk to a real person. For others, it's the fact that Starbucks insists on calling its smallest-sized coffee "tall." Or perhaps it's those pesky subscription cards that fall out of magazines. Whatever it is, each of us finds some aspect of everyday life to be particularly maddening, and we often long to lash out at these stubborn irritants of modern life.

In Life's Little Annoyances Ian Urbina chronicles the lengths to which some people will go when they have endured their pet peeves long enough. We meet the junk-mail recipient who returns unwanted "business reply" envelopes weighted down with sheet metal, so the mailers will have to pay the postage, and the woman, fed up with the colleague who kept helping himself to her lunch cookies, who replaces them with dog biscuits that look like biscotti. And we revel in the seemingly endless number of tactics people use to vent their anger at telemarketers, loud cellphone talkers, spammers, and others who impose themselves on us.

A compendium of human inventiveness, this audiobook will provide comfort and inspiration to anyone who has ever gritted his teeth and dreamed of sweet retribution against the slings and arrows of outrageous people.

Quotes & Awards

Listener Opinions

" This is a clever book - some are usable ideas, some are just funny to think about. "

Martin | 1/15/2014

" One joke, over and over and over and over and over again. A couple of funny lines though... "

Jennifer | 1/13/2014

" I really was prepared to love this book, and there were parts that I did get a kick out of. But I've worked as a clerk and a telemarketer back in the day, and I've been behind a direct mail campaign--and too many of the anecdotes were sticking it to the people who really didn't have the power to change any given annoying policy. After a while (and I did sit down and read the whole thing in one gulp which may be part of the problem), I started cringing. "

Tim | 1/13/2014

" Amusing, if very US centric, accounts of things that piss you off, and a few ways to get your own back. "

Gina Boyd | 12/12/2013

" Some of these anecdotes made me chuckle, but a lot of them left a really bad taste in my mouth. I think the world might be a better place if people channeled their passive-aggressive energies into doing something that really mattered. "

Eric | 11/19/2013

" An absolutely hilarious collection of wonderfully offbeat, passive-aggressive solutions to such everyday problems as loud cell phone talkers, Nigerian e-mail scams, and people who fail to clean up after their dog. "

Caleb Martinez | 11/6/2013

" haha. "

Ctron82 | 10/3/2013

" looking for a good laugh? this is the book for you "

Nancy | 8/3/2013

" I picked it up to read during commercials (the "stories" are only a page or two long) and got hooked. I was amused, amazed, and even inspired by the ways people dealt with the annoyances of life. "

Tonya | 7/10/2013

" A Random read - I was ready to LOVE this book in part to my smart ass nature. The book was slightly amusing, but fell short of it's potential. "

Rhonda | 5/20/2013

" This is a cute, humorous book and a quick read. It has stories in it about annoying things that happen in life and how they have been dealt with. "

Denise Hoecker | 4/8/2013

" A bit outdated regarding what annoys people. Easy read though. "

Tracey | 6/24/2012

" [no review recorded] "

Julie | 12/27/2010

" I thought this would a be something funny to read. Although a few of the stories were funny, for most of them all I could think was why do people waste their time with these things?! "

Chris | 12/19/2009

" This book is an advertisement for passive aggressive behavior. Some of the stories were very funny, but some were punishing the people who really had no control over the situation. Some of the annoyed people were brilliant, some just needed to get a life. Mildly amusing, though. "

Janet | 9/26/2009

" I thoroughly enjoyed this quick audiobook read by Stanley Tucci. It's very funny to hear some of the lengths people will go to just to get back at people or companies. Very fun to listen to indeed! "

Bryce Holt | 5/13/2009

" This book wasn't funny, intelligent or in any way entertaining. It only gets more than one star for being incredibly short. "

Amy G | 6/2/2008

" A gift from my husband at a time when I needed a little angry humor and it did the trick. "

Kalin | 3/22/2008

" I had no expectations when I picked this up and thoroughly enjoyed it every step of the way. Very light and entertaining, a nice read to relax the mind and chuckle after a long day at work. Occasionally I open it up to a random page just to get a laugh. "

g-na | 11/15/2007

" This book should have been included in the list. "

Lenore | 5/29/2007

" I haven't finished the book. It's only a series of stories so I can start up whenever I like. However, the ones I have read so far are very funny and clever. "

Valice Raffi | 2/23/2007

" Fun to read about how other people deal with "annoyances", many used the things I've done to "fix" those problems, but most in this book go further than me. I wished there had been longer pauses or ringing bells, or something between the segments instead of just jumping into the next. "

James | 12/19/2006

" Funny, but the basic concept is too thin to carry a whole book - after a while it gets redundant and tiresome. Maybe it would be better to read it in small doses instead of all at once. "

Carrie | 4/13/2006

" Fun book, bought on a whim with Jenn in Edgartown during the birth of our ongoing "Annoyedtown: population us" joke. "

About the Narrator

Stanley Tucci is an actor, writer, film producer, and film director. He was nominated for several notable film awards, including an Academy Award for his performance in The Lovely Bones. Other recent celebrated roles include The Devil Wears Prada and Julie & Julia. He has won two Golden Globe Awards and has also received a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination. He was nominated for a Tony Award for his role as Johnny in the 2002 Broadway revival of Terrence McNally’s Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune.

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